Monday, April 27, 2009

Freud and Zen?

The Times has a most interesting spread on Western traditional attitudes about the mind and self-analysis and what Zen philosophy's answer is to both.

Here's a paragraph.

"...Rubin was convinced that “the marriage of Buddha and Freud” would benefit both disciplines. “When you combine the best of Buddhism and psychoanalysis,” he told me one day last winter, “you get a full-spectrum view of human nature focused on both health and spiritual potential as well as on the psychological forces we struggle with and the obstacles we unconsciously put in our way.” But people at the conference still seemed bunkered in their doctrines, and he often found himself tacking between camps. He was scheduled to summarize a dialogue between a Buddhist and a psychoanalyst, but he was suddenly struck by the fallacy that enlightenment meant complete freedom from self-deception.."

Interesting article. When I took a World Religions course in college, I resonated personally with many of the themes of Buddhism, but I couldn't fully connect with it because I don't really see life as having any meaning other than what we give it through our individual personal experiences.

I have always maintained that the reason why the examined life is important, it's because it helps us learn how to be aware not only to our 'own' selves but to the bigger 'text' of life. It is bold of those who invest time, energy, and resources to understand themselves better.I do believe that the better we can 'decode' ourselves, the better off the bigger community will be.